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Home My WebLink AboutClinton News Record, 2015-03-25, Page 44 News Record • Wednesday, March 25, 2015 flIJfTiflT News Record PUBLISHED WEEKLY — EST. 1860 53 Albert St. P.O. Box 39 Clinton ON NOM 1L0 (519) 482-3443 www.clintonnewsrecord.com SUN MEDIA A Quebecor Media Company MARIE DAVID Sun Media Group Publisher - Grey Bruce Huron Division 519-364-2001 or 519-372-4301 NEIL CLIFFORD Publisher neil.clifford@sunmedia.ca MAX BICKFORD Advertising Manager max.bickford@sunmedia.ca TARA OSTNER Reporter clinton.reporter@sunmedia.ca DAWN JOHNSTON Sales Representative clinton.ads@sunmedia.ca TERESA SMITH Front Office clinton.classifieds@sunmedia.ca SUBSCRIPTION RATES 1 YEAR $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 2YEAR $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) SENIORS 60 WEEKS $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 120 WEEKS $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical eiror, the advertising space occupied bythe erroneous Cera together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged but that balance of advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the event of atypographic error advertising goods or services at a wrong price, goods or services may not be sold.Ad- vertising is merely an offer to sell, and maybe withdrawn at anytime. The Clinton News -Record is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproducing purposes. Publications Mail Agreement No.40064683 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES: CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 53Albert St.,Clinton ON NOM 1L0 (519) 482-3443 We acknowledge the financial support of the Govemment of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. Canada Member of the Canadian Community C112. Newspaper Association and the Ontario Community Newspapers Association editorial OPP union actions have hurt the OPP QMI Agency 0 ntario Provincial Police Commis- sioner Vince Hawkes understands the OPP has a huge problem of public perception on its hands because of the actions of its police union. That'swhyhe empha- sized in an interview with Sun Queen's Park col- umnist Christina Blizzard Wednesday that those actions have not impacted on the OPP investigations into the Liberal govern- ment's Omge and gas plant controversies. Nor on the OPP's inves- tigation into Premier Kathleen Wynne's admin- istration regarding the Sudbury byelection. The problem is that once a perception is cre- ated, it's hard to reassure the public it's not the reality. The moment the Ontario Provincial Police Association ran an adver- tisement during the last election campaign staling the OPP was urging the public not to vote for then Conservative leader Tim Hudak, the damage was done. Itwasn'tjustthe use of the term "OPP" in the voice-over, which the union was forced to correct. It was using the image of a uniformed officer that would cause any reasona- ble person to question the force's political neutrality. By running the attack ad against Hudak, Wynne's main opponent, the OPPA (and other pub- lic sector unions) were in effect helping the Liberals, who could thus concen- trate their election adver- tising dollars on positive messaging about Wynne. The fact the Wynne gov- ernment overnment presides over collective bargaining with the OPPA, impacting officers' salaries, benefits and working conditions, has created atthevery least the perception of a conflict of interest between the two parties. That Wynne's adminis- tration is now under investigation by the OPP in the Sudburybyelection controversy, involving allegations of bribing a Liberal candidate not to run — a Criminal Code and Elections Act offence, ifproven — makes this issue of perception more serious. So does the fact the OPPA is now caught up in an RCMP investigation into alleged financial irregularities, and that one of the three senior union officials suspended with pay is aformerLiberal candidate. The problem for the OPP is that, despite Hawkes' sincere assur- ances, the outcome of the three OPP investigations will now be judged bythe public in the context of all that has gone on before. In other words, the damage to the OPP's cred- ibilityhas already been done by the OPPA's actions, because you can- notunring a bell. www.clintonnewsrecord.com column Arts and culture and rural living Tara Ostner The Clinton News Record Last week the Social Research & Planning Council from the United Way Perth -Huron released its "Quality of Life in Perth & Huron County 2014" report. Determining what constitutes "quality of life" is not an easy task. However, I think that the United Way pro- vides a reasonable enough definition when it states that qual- ity of life refers to the "general wellbeing of individuals and society and is defined in terms of health and happi- ness rather than wealth." The report appraised life in Huron and Perth counties according to eight areas that the Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW) regards as being critical to quality of life: Com- munity Vitality, Demo- cratic Engagement, Education, Environ- ment, Healthy Popula- tions, Leisure and Cul- ture, Living Standards and Time Use. For the most part, I was pleased to learn the results from the catego- ries and they make me very proud to be a resi- dent of Huron County. For example, the report found that we have a strong sense of com- munity belonging that is well above the pro- vincial average and a very low crime rate. What I found some- what surprising and disappointing, how- ever, is that the report concluded that there is an absence of stand- ardized indicators of arts and culture in Huron County. For instance, as a result of this absence, the cate- gory "Leisure & Cul- ture," instead, looked at physical activity in our area. Physical activity is obviously crucial to maintaining good health and general wellbeing. However, physical activity and arts and culture are very distinct from each other and serve very different purposes. If the adults in our community indeed do not have a sufficient interest in arts and cul- ture then, of course, that's fine as no one knows better what con- stitutes the good life but himself. When we consider the children in our community, however, an entirely different issue arises. In order for children to one day be able to intelligently and thoughtfully determine the good life as adults they have to witness and have exposure to as many different kinds of activities, lifestyles and forms of expression as possible. If the children in our area do not have exposure to this then this - in comparison to children in other parts of the province - puts them at a considerable disadvantage. If there is a lack of arts and culture in our area as this report says it will, therefore, be up to parents, schools and the existing estab- lishments that do pro- mote cultural arts to fill this void. It will be up to these people and establish- ments to show our chil- dren the countless ben- efits of creative expression - both in terms of understanding ourselves and the world around us - and the immense influence that music, dance, theatre, film and the visual arts can have on our lives thus contributing to our overall satisfaction in life. In short, by showing our children the beauty of the arts we are thereby giving them a level of aware- ness and sophistica- tion that only the arts can provide. The fact that we live in a rural setting ought not preclude this vital education from occurring. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The News Record welcomes letters to the editor. All letters must be signed and include a daytime phone number for verification purposes. Letters can be sent care of the Internet at clinton.news@sunmedia.ca, sent via fax at 519-482-7341 or through Canada Post care of The Editor, P.O. Box 39, Clinton, ON NOL 1LO. CLINTON NEWS RECORD — HOURS OF OPERATION MONDAY: 9:00 - 5:00 • TUESDAY: - CLOSED • WEDNESDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • THURSDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • FRIDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • SATURDAY & SUNDAY: - CLOSED ADVERTISING DEADLINE: FRIDAY AT 2:00 • PHONE 519-482-3443 • FAX: 519-482-7341 www.clintonnewsrecord.com